Collection Jars

2017-2019
glass jars, wood, ink, captured scent
dimensions variable

Smells are collected by the artist and project participants. Each jar is then labeled with a word that embodies a moment, place, or person. No jars are opened during exhibition, and thus each scent is accessible only by imagination – similar to the way the past is accessible by memory. There is a close correlation between imagination and memory as “objective” sensory inputs of our environments morph and change with time. We are left to discern what is remembered, and what is imagined. Despite their physical ephemerality, these captured moments can be as defining an element of place, or person, as the structures and objects we build.

Collection jars are inextricably linked to loss – of trying to hold fleeting moments static. This is a futile endeavor. We are always drawn forward through time and space. This series began with the reconciliation of my memories following a friend’s suicide. The smell of his home, his clothing, his dog’s shampoo all brought back “happy” memories that had to be re-contextualized. In loving memory of Christopher.